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VITAMINBI. (THIAMIN)AND ITS USE IN MEDICINE. Robert R . Il'illinnz,, S c l ) . , and Tom Dotcplas SiP?.h1.D. The hlacmillan Cm, New York City. 1038. xri T 411 pp. $5.00. ~~~~
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This is a book to be welcomed most cordially. I t is timely; its subject matter is of large importance; its authors are outstandingly qualified; and they have written carefully and well. Published as one of the Macmillan Medical Monopraohs. .. . it is naturally presented primarily from a mcdicnl point of view, and the s e q u e m ~is th?refore dimerent from that which a teacher would probably adopt for a class in chemistry. I n general arrangement, most of the medical part comes first, then the historical and experimental which includes the accounts of the differentiation, isolation, structure, and synthesis of the substance. Cbapters VII, VIII, XVII. XVIII, and XX-XXIV deal largely with the quantitative problems of determination, distribution in foods, requirements in nutrition, and adequacy of dietaries or food supplies. I n a foreword Dr. McLester writes that in no other area of medical knowledge has there been recorded such a far-reaching advance as has been made during the past two decades in the field of nutrition; and he adds, "Pointing the way to the develapment of a healthier, more vigorous race, this advance marks an epoch in man's progress." The first six chapters are addressed directly t o the physicians, who, i t is stated, are heginning t o realize that subclinical forms of vitamin B, deficiency occur frequently, though "the effects of a persistent, slightly faulty diet may not be detectsble for years." Beside faults in the food, there may be disturbances of absorption of the vitamin, or increased need for i t in the body. The authors emphasize the view that prolonged inadequacy, either from dietary lack, failure of utilization, or increased demand, produces a variety of borderline states of ill health, which are rarely well defined and rarely the nncomplicated result of shortage of one nutritional factor alone. Hence even though frank cases of beriberi are not common in this country, they hold that cases of suboptimal vitamin BI hutrition are probably more common than bas hitherto been suooosed. This ooint of view leads to .. wry careful considerations of the quantitative questions of adequacy, in both the clinical and the experimental parts 01 the hook. With Chapter I X begins the more chemical phase of the story. The review of pioneer observations gives prominence to Takaki, to Eijkmann, and to Fraser and Stanton (a judicious international distribution of honors!). The differentiation of vitamin B, is reviewed from the standpoint of present-day knowledge and thus throws much light upon other essential substances as well. The discussions of isolation, structure, synthesis, chemical reactions, and the origin of the modern name thiamin all cany a very special interest and authority because of the senior author's long, active, and outstandingly successful identification with this important line of chemical research. Convenience is also enhanced by the inclusion in these chapters of concise summaries of the chemistry of closely related substances. The discussions of the stability of the vitamin under different conditions illustrate anew how a given experiment, if carefully planned, may serve an immediate practical purpose and also have a permanent theoretical value which the "pure" chemist may fail t o appreciate because i t appeared in a "utilitarian" setting. Chapters XIV, XX-XXII, and XXV-XXIX contain effective presentations of the authors' views as t o how the vitamin acts in the living cells and tissues. The reviewer is not enough of a physiologist to attempt such condensation as would be necessary to summarize these views here, and is further deterred by the fact that the corresponding theories of action of vitamin C and riboflavin are not yet sufficiently developed to be given that
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place in the picture, and weight in the argument, which they may soon command. -~ ~Having offered the reader a thorough acquaintance with thiamin (vitamin B,) as a chemical individual which has been isolated. synthesized, extensively and intensively studied, and made as available as other pure substances, the authors recommend (pp. 169, 216, and elsewhere) that hereafter all vitamin Bj values be expressed in terms of actual weight of thiamin (or crystalline thiamin chloride) rather than in terms of any arbitrary "unit." however authoritatively agreed upon. Micrograms (gamma) of thiamin (vitamin B,) per gram of s a m p l t w b i c b , of course, can also be conveniently called parts per million-fortunately make easily manageable numbers in expressing food values. Thus the authors estimate representative vitamin B, values (among others) as follows: rice unmilled 2.0 to 3.0, half-milled 1.2, well-milled 0.5 t o 0.6, polished and washed 0.02 gamma per gram (p. 230); beef muscle 0.4 to 0.5, lamb and mutton 0.5, pork muscle 3.0, egg 1.0, dry beans and peas 2.5 to 4.0, string beans 0.5, green peas 1.5, ueanuts 8.0. whole wheat 5.0.. white bread (and oatent flour) ~~~~. 0.5, potato and swrct potato 0.7, watercress 0 6 gamma of t h i s tnin per gram, or parts prr milliun (pp. 2 3 6 4 ) . Even with the rapid recent accumulation of data on food values and advance in our knowledge of nutritional functions, it is still tca early for generalizations as t o the margins of safety in their vitamin Bt content that American dietaries commonly now do, and in future should, carry; but anyone who would (or in near future may) study this complex question will find Williams and Spies' full, critical, and objective analysis of the evidence up to 1938 a most valuable fundamental "bench mark" and point of departure. Expression of appreciation of the many excellencies of the book must here he curtailed by the necessity of brevity in this review. Every chapter gives evidence of having been thoroughly thought through and is written with the cogency of authoritative first-hand knowledge a t the same time that i t is abundantly documented. Chemists, physiologists, and physicians alike are most fortunate in havine available in such admirable form the ioint tindings of an outstandingly able chemist and nutritional experimrntcr who has devoted a quarter-century to the suLjr.ct and of an txceptionally nctivc, alert, open-minded, and scientific rep resentative of modern medicine. The book as a whole is a fine example of chemistry in the service of medicine and health, and of the development of modern medicine as a quantitatively exact science. HENRYC. S H E ~ A N ~
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ASPECTSOR SCIENCE.Tobias Danlzig, Professor of Mathematics, University of Maryland. The Macmillan Company, New York City, 1937. xi 285 pp. 7 figs. 14 X 21 cm. 8 . 0 0 .
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"This book," according t o the author, "is an essay on faith. .. Faith that the world revealed to man by his senses was not a sheer chaos, hut a universe; that this universe was accessible to his reason." The classical foundations of physical science have been destroyed by Einstein's theory of relativity and Heisenberg's principle of indeterminacy. What, then, is the philosophical significance of these new concepts for the future of science? The answer to this problem is given in twelve chapters which contain a most stimulating discussion. written in an extremely interesting manner. Because be is a mathematician, the author naturally stresses the msthematical aspects of the scientific developments from the time of Galileo t o the present. However, there is an avoidance of any highly technical remarks, no "higher
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mathematics" is brought in, and, on theother hand, there is very little of that metaphysical discussion wbich is found in the works of other recent writers on the same topics. It is difficult to give, in such a brief review, any even moderately satisfactory summary of the contents. The work of Galileo and his experiences with the Church are described in one of the most interesting chapters (the third), "The Dawn of an Era." Chapter XI, entitled "Models," should be read by all those who still fondly believe that the mathematics of Sehroedinger and Dirac is only a passing vague which will be followed by a really "understandable" interpretation of nature in "simple language." Chapter XII, the last one, entitled "Universe of Discmme," contains a summary of what the author regards as the present philosophy of science. The titles of the other chapters are as follows: I. The Causal Chain; 11. The Appeal t o Reason; IV. Number; V. The Infinite; VI. The Crisis; VII. In Quest of the Absolute; VIII. The Straight and the Flat; IX. On Rigid Standards: and X. Signals. The reviewer has no hesitation in recommending the work as containine " a well-balanced and illuminatinc discussion of the interpretation and philocophicnl inlpliwtion.; both of thc physics which prrcedcd ' t h e Crisi5" and of thoac de\rlopmmts which have occurred during the past quarter century.
hydric alcohols and related substances, oils, fats, and waxes, polybasic acids, substituted acids and derivatives, carbohydrates, and special topics, whereas the fourth division contains sixtyseven pages dealing with general information, definitions, industrial type, review equations, isomerism, synthesis, distinctions and separations, true and false types, essay type, structural proofs, comprehensive and correlative types, and Beilstein problems. A total of eight hundred thirty-five type problems, subdivided into about five thousand specificexercises, are included. Graphic formulas are included where a clear concept of the arrangement of the atoms in the molecule seems essential to the understanding of the problem. This book offers an excellent additional teaching tool t o those who are interested in supplementing their teaching by exercises and problems other than those supplied in the usual textbooks. ED. F. DEGERING P m o w U~,"Lcasrr" WEST L*s*uETre, IND,*N*
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Calendra. - ~ d w a r d s Brothers, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1938. SAULDUSHMAN iv 151 pp. 21 X 27 cm. $2.50. This book represents an effort to supply a source of "objective" or "new type" questions to replace tests of the essay type. These questions are so phrased that they will fit any of the customary answer forms and thus may be rapidly or machine graded. I n order that the questions may have some continuity, the author has followed the scheme of presentation used in Briscoe's GENERALC n e M r s ~ ~FOR y COLLEGES which differs but slightly IN ORGANIC CHEMISTRY.E m a t Hemlin Htmtrws, hmm the traditional order, hence they may be used with any PROBLEMS Associate Professor of Organic Chemistry, Massachusetts In- textbook. They are arranged in thirty-nine groups correspondine - t o the chaoter headines - of Briscoe's book. The ouestim. - ~ ~ . ~ - .. stitute of Technology. McGraw-Hill Bwk Company, Iuc., New York City, 1938. xi 270 pp. 14 X 20.5 cm. $2.25. are clearly planographed on hoth side< of the pagrs and extend its full width. i.nfortunntrly, thers ii no arrangement of spaces As a basis far the production of the book, the author cites for answcrs, thus restricting rhr !I-c of the book in rranlar e l a * ~ "fifteen years' experience in teaching the introductory course in work. organic chemistry a t the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Four types of questions are used in this book: It has sprung from the growing conviction that the efforts of the I. The multible resbonse tvbe student can he greatly facilitated and his ultimate mastery of the Four possible responses are suggested to a given question. subject markedly improved when his individual study of the Any number of responses may be correct. material amply supplied by textbwks and lectures is guided by much further suggestion of what he needs t o know than can pos2. Thc multiple choice type sibly be given during class time." Faur possible choices are suggested. Only one is correct. This problem book consists of four divisions: "the first deThis type of question is useful in avoiding ambiguities voted to the monofunctional compounds of the aliphatic series. which would arise were the question stated as a multiple the second to corresponding compounds of the aromatic series. response question. and the third to polyhrnctional compounds (or compounds witb 3. The arrangement type more than one single type of function) drawn from either or both 4 . The matching type series." These four divisions are subdivided into chapters "each of wbich deals mainly witb some definite class of comEach question calls for four responses or multiples thereof up pounds. Certain parts are still further subdivided into sectians to twenty-four in number. The inquiry, statement, or situation with closely similar classes. Each part is so constructed that, that constitutes the question is followed hy or includes four stateafter suitable drill in the simpler aspects of the behavior of its ments, one or all of wbich may constitute the right answer or particular class of compounds, attention is drawn t o the co- statement. Thus the student is not aided by being advised of ordination and cumulation of the class with the classes which the number of correct responses. There are over 8100 questions, have preceded it. Throughout the book this principle of 'co- each consisting of four or more parts. ordinative cumulation' has been emphasized as a means of develThe statements are clear, simple, and direct and their meaning opment of power in the subject." A fourth division contains a should be clearly and readily understood. There are few duplimiscellaneous review and advanced problems. cations or like questions differentlyworded. Such leading words Eigbty-seven pages are given to problems on the acyclic com- as "all," "almost," "every." and guiding statements and clues pounds under the chapter headings: hydrocarbons, mono- are rarely found as well as the familiar stereotype forms so comhydric alcohols, alcohol derivatives, monohasic acids, acid de- monly used. There are many ingenious situations that require the rivatives, amides and amines, carbonyl compounds, and a review student to balance the merits of one answer against anotherof monofunctional classes. The aromatic series is covered in the "thought type" of question. eiebtv-one oaees isocvclic hvdrocarbons. No claim whatever is made for the reliability or validity of - . . .. under the headines: " aromatic halogen ron~pounds. ~rumaticcarbonyl con~pomds. these questions. They should be carefully analyzed, therefore, aromatic rarboxylir acids and t h r r derivatives, sulfonic acid
